Daily Archives: January 6, 2008

…Garner said Georgia isn’t close to using its $500,000 budget for recruiting because of early commitments and because 16 are from within the state, and that has Frank Crumley very happy.

“Rodney does an exceptional job of managing recruiting,” said Crumley, Georgia’s executive associate athletic director in charge of finance. “He doesn’t waste any visits, and he isn’t out there wasting money. Because he has done such a good job, if there ever came a time when he suddenly needed more, we would likely be able to help him out.

“He manages recruiting like it’s his own money.”

The NCAA limits major college programs to 56 official visits each year, but Garner said Georgia will be using just 36 for this class.

Compared to their chief rivals in the SEC East, the Bulldogs have more similiarities in recruiting with Florida than Tennessee. Florida and Georgia are states stocked with high-school talent, so the Gators and Bulldogs often have 60 to 90 percent of their classes filled by in-state players.

Tennessee is not a talent-rich state and the Volunteers have not signed a class consisting of even 40 percent in-state in the past decade. Tennessee’s 23-member class in 2001 had three in-state players.

Vols coaches travel around the country to fill their roster, which is why UT’s recruiting budget has been $900,000 in recent years and is $1 million this year for the first time…

I forgot to mention this when I saw it the other day. David Ching had a post up about the announcement that Clemson and Alabama would open the ’08 season with a game at the Georgia Dome. Ching wondered how much of an impact the game would have on Georgia’s in state recruiting (my answer: not much).

The bigger impact I see coming is that it’s scheduled for the same day as Georgia Tech’s opener against – a drum roll, please! – Jacksonville State. All the attention that would ordinarily have been generated about the Paul Johnson era getting underway on the Flats will be dwarfed by the story of a larger, more enthusiastic crowd watching what is quite likely to be a more interesting game. Don’t think the comparison will be lost on the media.

By now, most Dawg fans are aware that A. J. Harmon withdrew his previous verbal commitment – that term being perhaps the biggest oxymoron in college sports – from Clemmins and pledged his allegiance to Georgia during yesterday’s U.S. Army All-American Bowl.

Solid, baby.

Now, Carter Strickland’s article in the AJ-C makes it sound like Harmon is still pretty conflicted about his decision.

“When I committed to them [Clemson] I was 100 percent,” Harmon said. “I am 100 percent Georgia right now.

“But I know it is not over until February,” he said. “I hope I can make a decision by February.”

… But then Harmon said this: “I’m kinda sure about Georgia, and I am not sure at the same time.”

But the Athens Banner-Herald tells a different story. First, the kid comes off sounding a bit more definitive about his decision.

“After I talked to Clemson and let them know what I was doing and they reacted I decided to let it all be over with,” he said. “I’m only taking my official visit to Georgia now. I’m proud to be a Bulldog.”

It’s the backstory that’s interesting, though. Evidently Harmon tried to commit to Georgia over a month ago, only to be told that there was no room for him.

… Harmon tried to commit to Georgia after Clemson’s 20-17 loss to Boston College on Nov. 17. Georgia had promised to hold a scholarship for him until Nov. 18. When Harmon called that day to take them up on it, he was told the school didn’t have any more scholarships for the 2008 class.

That disappointed Harmon and those close to him. He then said he wanted to go to a school “where he could hit (Georgia quarterback) Matthew Stafford every play” after that didn’t work out.

“When Coach Richt called and apologized and told me he was sorry it meant a lot,” Harmon said. “He said Coach (Rodney) Garner and Coach (Jon) Fabris had been all over him 24-7 about finding a scholarship after I tried to commit and they pulled the rug out from underneath me.”

Luckily, something opened up (probably this) in Georgia’s recruiting numbers for the ’08 class. And that was that. Presumably.

… Richt would call back weeks later with news a scholarship had opened up. Harmon said that call came before Christmas. He committed on the spot.

A lot of people are criticizing Harmon for being conflicted (my favorite is the guy on one of the Clemmins boards who suggests that Tommy Bowden jerk Richt’s son around and withdraw the scholly offer to him at the last minute for revenge), but, let’s face it, this is the most important decision this kid’s ever made in his life. If he’s not sure what he wants to do yet, it’s up to the schools to decide whether they want to cater to him or not.

And that seems to be the real issue here. Georgia looks like it has no wiggle room left on the numbers for the incoming class and let Harmon know it. It remains to be seen if that’s enough to keep him in the fold.